The Bolivian online magazine La Mala Palabra reports that rap artist Abrahim Bojorquez died on May 20 after being hit by a bus. Bojorquez was born in the city of El Alto, an impoverished city perched above the Bolivian capital of La Paz and predominately populated by Aymaran migrants. He learned to rap in the favelas of Brazil, where he immigrated in his youth to work in the textile industry. Upon his return to El Alto, Bojorquez gained international notoriety as the frontman for Ukamau y ke, a revolutionary music group that pioneered the use of Aymara in hip hop.
Ukamau y ke’s music wasn’t just revolutionary for their language, however. The group’s politically driven rhymes captured the indignation of their marginalized community, one the nerve centers of Bolivia’s social movements that toppled the neoliberal government of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada in 2003 in response to attempts to privatize the country’s natural gas. As Bojorquez told the New York Times in 2005:
“We sing about coca, about poverty. Our singing is revolutionary. We protest without marches or strikes. We do it through music, to reach as many people as possible.”
In addition to recording his own music, Bojorquez participated with other established and aspiring rappers and musicians in workshops at the Wayna Tambo Youth House, where he also hosted a radio show called “Rincón Callejero.”
Bojorquez’s music, which was featured in the documentary film The Linguists, is available at La Mala Palabra. Non-Spanish speakers: click where it says “Bájate su disco.”
